Hoskins’ pharmacare appointment comes with $800 per diem

Minister of Health Ginette Petitpas Taylor stands with Eric Hoskins, former Ontario Minister of Health, after the tabling of the budget in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2018. Hoskins will chair a federal government advisory council to implement a national pharmacare plan. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

Former Ontario Health Minister Eric Hoskins, who is getting ready to head up a national pharmacare advisory council, will receive as much as $800 per day for a year, government documents show.

An order in council issued this week making Hoskins chairperson of the advisory council, and an senior adviser to the ministers of finance and health, fills in a few blanks that the announcement in the 2018 budget document doesn’t include.

To start with, while there’s no money in the budget for a pharmacare plan itself, or an amount for the advisory council, Hoskins is slated to receive a per diem in the range of $675 to $800, effective as of February 28, 2018.

The length of the contract runs until one of two things happens: the council issues its final report, or after one year from the point at which the “last of the initial members is appointed to the council.”

The order places a limit on the term, lasting until January 31, 2019. If it runs the full year, that brings the salary total to a maximum ceiling of $292,000 (if he worked every day for the full year).

A spokesperson for Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor’s office said Saturday that Hoskins will be officially working part-time, which is why he’s on a per diem basis with no benefits, and that cross-Canada travel will be part of the work.

It’s not yet clear how much travelling the consulting group will do exactly, or how long the report will take to compile, and the order in council only lists a few bare-bones details about the new position.

Hoskins had announced the night before budget day that he would be resigning “effective immediately” as MPP for St. Paul’s to begin work on the consulting council. According to a CBC story from last year, Ontario cabinet ministers make $165,850 annually. His Ontario colleagues will also face an election within months.

The final report on pharmacare policy options will be delivered to the federal ministers of finance and health, likely next spring.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau has been taking flak from various universal pharmacare advocates after he appeared to start walking back the scope of what a national pharmacare program would look like just a day after the budget’s announcement.

Labour groups and NDP MPs raised ire over comments he made that seemingly preempt the study, and argued Morneau should recuse himself over a perceived conflict of interest related to his family business, which deals with benefits plans.

Morneau responded in question period Thursday that the accusation was “bizarre” and that the government is getting ready to listen to experts.

Petitpas Taylor similarly dodged questions from reporters Friday surrounding the recusal demands lobbed at Morneau, and said that she is “looking forward to all the options that are going to be recommended to us in spring.”

Meantime, the commons health committee is preparing to issue its own report looking at national pharmacare program after a two year study into the matter.